NCJ Number
203688
Date Published
2003
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the ways in which the police are experimenting with the principles of restorative justice in the United Kingdom, with attention to the effort to transform standard police cautioning practices into "restorative cautioning."
Abstract
Most adherents of restorative justice prefer Tony Marshall's definition of the concept: "Restorative justice is a process whereby all the parties with a stake in a particular offense come together to resolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offense and its implications for the future." Most agree that those who have a "stake" in a particular offense are the offender, the victim, and their "communities," which usually means supporters such as their families and friends. In England and Wales the police have become increasingly involved with victims through restorative justice initiatives. This engagement began with initiatives that offered new services to victims without any attempt to involve offenders or "communities of care." Subsequently, some police services have attempted to facilitate reparative communication between victims, offenders, and others concerned about an offense. The first large-scale attempt to introduce restorative principles into police cautioning began with the Thames Valley Police, which stipulated on April 1, 1998, that all police cautioning for both adults and juveniles was to have a restorative character. Cases destined for a caution, rather than for prosecution, would be processed by restorative justice coordinators who would attempt to arrange "restorative conferences" that involved offenders, victims, and their respective "supporters." If there was no victim able and willing to meet with the offender, a "restorative caution" would involve presenting a victim's views by the police officer. In the first 3 years of the initiative, 1,915 restorative conferences and 12,065 restorative cautions occurred. In the authors' study of the initiative, sessions with no victims present (restorative cautions) generally qualified as mostly restorative because of the presence and participation of the offender's community of care (usually family members). Least restorative were those cautions in which only an adult offender and police officer were present to discuss an offense widely regarded as "victimless," such as possession of cannabis. This chapter also discusses other restorative initiatives that are occurring within Thames Valley in order to assess the prospects of a significant shift toward "restorative policing." These include the use of restorative justice principles in the handling of public complaints and internal grievances and the introduction of restorative conferencing techniques for neighborhood and community disputes that do not involve a criminal offense or in which it is not considered expedient to caution or prosecute anyone. Overall, the authors' research on restorative cautioning suggests that there is significant support, particularly among victims and the general public, for the police to use restorative practices in responding to criminal behavior. There is also some evidence that restorative practices improve relations between the police and the public. 21 notes and 90 references